


Gilbert and Matthew

by IAmAwesomeMe



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Epic, F/M, Sorry guys, but seriously, this took me over a week y'all better appreciate it, way too long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-28 10:57:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15705849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmAwesomeMe/pseuds/IAmAwesomeMe
Summary: It opens with Gilbert walking up to Matthew and asking for his blessing in courting Anne. Matthew gives it, and one piece of advice: Don't rush it. The story then follows Gilbert as he courts Anne.





	Gilbert and Matthew

Gilbert was increasing nervous as he approached Green Gables. He must have made this walk a million times, but never with such importance. He stood at the door, wanting to knock while lacking the courage to knock. Finally, he swallowed hard and knocked.

“Come in,” Marilla said. Gilbert entered and nodded to Marilla. She was baking an apple pie. “Anne is just upstairs, working on marking papers.” Anne was the Avonlea school teacher, and Gilbert worked at the White Sands school.

“I, um, I actually came to talk to Matthew,” Gilbert said.

Marilla’s eyes shot wide when she figured out what this must mean. “Is this… _that_ talk?”

“I hope so,” Gilbert said.

“Matthew is out in the field,” Marilla said.

“Thank you,” Gilbert said, as he turned to leave.

“Wait!” Marilla shouted, and rushed over to him. “You have a spot on your jacket.” She scrubbed it off quickly with a damp cloth.

Gilbert looked up at Marilla as she worked. “I know it isn’t typical,” Gilbert said, “you usually only ask the father, but if I were to ask for your blessing?”

“I’d chide you for not asking sooner,” Marilla smiled down lovingly at Gilbert. Gilbert smiled back at Marilla. “Now go,” Marilla said, “he should be in the barn.”

Gilbert walked over to the barn. Sure enough, Matthew was milking the cows. “Matthew?” Gilbert asked nervously.

“Oh, hello there,” Matthew said. “One moment.”

Gilbert waited patiently as Matthew came out from his stool by the cow. When he came out, his face was beet red. “Are you ok?” Gilbert asked.

“Oh, I’m fine,” Matthew said, “just a little out of breath.”   
Gilbert wasn’t convinced, but proceeded with his prepared speech anyway. “Matthew, I wanted to talk to you about a matter that is very important to both of us. As you know, I’ve cared deeply for Anne since the day I meet her.” Matthew looked up in surprise but not shock. He knew this conversation was coming, everyone knew it was coming. Right at this moment, Mrs Lynde was telling Mrs. Bell that she saw Gilbert walking over to Green Gables in his Sunday best, and that’s all that needs to be known to know what he was their for. “She hasn’t always returned his affections,” his hand went to the spot where she hit him with her slate, a sub-conscience action he did whenever he thought of her, “I believe she does now. But even if I’m wrong, and she rejects me, I promise to respect that and not push any further. I want to be clear that I am not asking for your permission, rather your blessing. Anne is an independent woman, capable of making decisions of her own. She would not take kindly to being sold off to the highest bidder. Still, she cares for you deeply and always takes your opinion into account so your blessing is really important to her. I want to emphasizes that though I do not have much in the way of finances at the moment, I have a lot of potential. I am going to Redmond in the fall with Anne, and I hope that there I can propose to her. I will have my B.A. but plan to pursue my education further, hoping to go to medical school and become a doctor and once I do, your daughter will want for nothing. In addition to providing for her financially, I also promise to keep her safe, and well loved. I have loved your daughter for a very long time, so long I don’t think I’ll ever stop, regardless of whether she accepts my proposal. I will probably die being in love with her. If she marries me, you know I will do everything in my power to keep her happy, healthy, and safe. So please, Mr. Cuthbert, give me your blessing.” Gilbert had worked his speech over with Bash and Mary all week, making sure to remember all the important details like his plans to be a doctor, his deep love for her, and his acknowledgement of how this is not permission, rather a blessing, which he believe reflected well on how much he respected Anne as her own woman and not his or Matthew’s property. But even with all that practise, he was still unprepared for the excruciating silence as Matthew weighed what he just said.

“You don’t need my blessing,” Matthew said after what seemed like forever to Gilbert.

“I…” Gilbert was confused. “I don’t have it?”

“No, you most certainly have it,” Matthew clarified. “I know you. You are a strong, responsible worker. If you say you are going to be a doctor, then you will but even if you didn’t you’d make sure Anne was taken care of. I have no doubt about that. But you don’t need it. Anne loves you back, and nothing I could say could possibly dissuade her.”

Gilbert’s heart soared in his chest. “Anne… She really loves me.”

“She does,” Matthew smiled. “She thinks it’s just as friends, but give her some time and she will see that it is more than that.”

“Ok, so I shouldn’t propose to her right now,” Gilbert clarified.

“Give her some time.”

“When will I know when’s the right time?”

Matthew thought for a moment. “When she looks at you as though you are the entire world,” he said finally. “It’s the exact same way you look at her.”

Gilbert smiled at that. “Thank you,” he said to Matthew, “for everything.”

“If you need help, just come and ask me.”

“Of course,” Gilbert said, walking away. “Thank you again!” he called while leaving.

He left the barn and continued to walk down the lane, only to be stopped by a certain red head.

“I heard you talked to Matthew,” she said.

“I did,” he said. Her eyes bore into him, making him uncomfortable. She obviously didn’t like the idea of him asking for permission even if he didn’t ask for permission, only a blessing.

“What did he say,” her words were quite pointed. Almost staccato. And her eyes continued to drill into his skull angrily.

Gilbert weighed his options. She wasn’t looking at him like he was the entire world. She was looking at him like she was a police detective trying to get information out of a particularly uncooperative witness. “He stressed the importance of timing in all matters,” he said, hopefully neutrally.

She backed off a bit, and cooled down. “So your question wasn’t…” Anne didn’t know how to put it.

But Gilbert understood her regardless. “It was, it just wasn’t for the immediate future.”

“Oh,” Anne was slightly surprised at that. “Well.. good.” She turned around to go back to Green Gables, probably to finish grading papers. Gilbert watched her go. He knew he wouldn’t ask anytime soon, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to.

The very next day, Gilbert came over again. He wanted to ask Matthew a few more questions, maybe ask for help in helping Anne look at him like he’s the entire world. When he got to Green Gables, he was met with a very different scene.

Gilbert’s first indication that something was wrong was the horse in front of Green Gables. Gilbert first noticed how that looked a lot like the Carmody doctor’s horse. But that was foolish. Why would a doctor come to Green Gables? Then he came inside, and found Anne and Marilla sitting by the table. Their eyes were red and stuffy.

“What… What happened?” Gilbert asked. Anne and Marilla looked towards him.

“Oh, Gil,” Anne said, flying into Gilbert’s arms. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. He didn’t know what happened, but he knew she needed him.

Anne and Marilla were by the table. Marilla was sitting, Anne was standing behind her. They were nervously eyeing the stairs leading up to the second floor.

“What happened?” Gilbert asked, confused. Both of the women’s eyes were red and bloodshot.

“ Oh Gil,” Anne said upon seeing the boy. She ran over, enveloping him in a hug. “Gil, Gil, Gil,” she said as she started to cry, probably not for the first time that day. Gilbert still had no idea what was happening, but he knew what Anne needed. He held her close, making sure she felt safe from harm with him.

“What happened?” He repeated his question to Marilla, then realised something. “Wait, where’s Matthew?”

This caused Anne to burst into tears again, and Gilbert knew his worst suspicions had been confirmed.

Just then, the doctor came downstairs. He shook his head sadly at Marilla. “He was already cold by the time I got to him, there was nothing I could do.” Marilla shook her head in agreement, then went over to pay the doctor. “No, I didn’t do anything. Keep your money.” Marilla took her seat again. “On my way back to town, I’ll get the priest to come over,” he promised, turning to leave. But before he left completely, he spoke to Gilbert, still wrapped in Anne’s tight embrace. “Make sure they are looked after today. It will be hard on them.”

Gilbert thought about the priests advice as he left. Anne had sufficiently calmed down to let go of her friend, and Gilbert ushered her into a seat besides Marilla.

“I’m going to make us all some tea,” Gilbert decided. It seemed like the best thing to do in the circumstance. He put on the kettle, set out the tea pot, measured out the tea leaves, and got the cups down. Anne watched his every movement, it was the only distraction from the deep whole in her heart. “I used to make tea and breakfast all the time for my father when he was sick,” Gilbert said, noting her gaze. “Actually, have you eaten anything today?”

“No,” Anne said. Marilla got up to make some, but Gilbert wouldn’t let her.

“Let me,” he said, and got out a pan for scrambled eggs. He heated some butter, added the eggs and salt and a little cumin that Bash taught him added some nice spice. He also toasted some bread. The tea was ready before the rest of the breakfast was, so he served that first. Then he prepared two plates of scrambled eggs and toast and served that, having already eaten himself. But as he was serving he noticed that Jerry was walking up the road, unaware of the events that transpired that morning. “Excuse me,” he told the ladies and he ran out to meet the farm hand.

“Mr. Blythe?” Jerry was confused. “ What are you doing here?”

“Matthew Cuthbert has died,” Gilbert said. He watched Jerry’s face as he tried to understand. “What? No. I must have not understood you. Did you say Mr. Cuthbert.”

“He died,” Gilbert repeated. A lump formed in his throat. He had been so concerned about Anne and Marilla, he hadn’t yet processed the news himself. But now was not the time. Gilbert tries to remember his French the best he could. “Il et most.”

Jerry looked down, trying to accept what he was hearing. “I- I just saw him yesterday.”

“So did I, yesterday,” Gilbert said, also looking down. “Right now, we can’t think about that. I need you to do some stuff. First, go to Mrs. Lynde, then Diana. The girls need their friends in times of crisis. But don’t tell Mrs. Lynde what happened. We don’t want her getting distracted by the possibility of gossip. You can tell Diana’s family, though. But get them here as soon as possible.”

Jerry ran off and Gilbert returned to the house. Marilla was eating dutifully, but Anne was just looking at her eggs sadly.

“You have to eat,” Gilbert said.

“How am I supposed to eat at a time like this?” Anne asked.

“Because he wouldn’t have wanted you to skip meals on his account,” Gilbert said. “Please,” he whispered into her ear, “for me if not for yourself.”

Anne slowly brought her fork up to her lips and chewed sadly. Happy enough, Gilbert went upstairs. He was curious about what he would find.

He found Matthew Cuthbert in his own bed, in his nightshirt and cap. There was a half-finished candle by his bed and a copy of some old book, bookmark still preserving the exact last thing he read. He looked peaceful. He must have died in his sleep. He still looked like he could be asleep, were it not for the slight blue tint to his skin. Gilbert walked over, and picked up his hand. It was cold. Gilbert tried to find a pulse, but couldn’t. Part of him hoped that this was all some elaborate joke. Now he knew it wasn’t, as a tear rolled down his cheek.

How was this possible? He had seen Matthew just yesterday. He was happy, healthy, strong. How could he be gone? How could he be missing so suddenly.

Gilbert sat down at the chair in the corner of the room. He thought about all the things that Matthew wouldn’t be able to be there for. No more birthdays, no more Christmas mornings or Halloweens or even rainy Tuesdays. Matthew wouldn’t be able to see Anne graduate, or see her become a published author, or walk her down the aisle. He wouldn’t see her, hopefully them, get married.

Gilbert thought back to his last conversation with Matthew. The last thing he did was give Gilbert his blessing. That made Gilbert smile, somewhat selfishly, but he also remembered the last piece of advice Matthew gave him. Take your time, there’s no need to rush or move to quickly. Now the same man lay dead before him and Gilbert wondered whether Matthew ever said that about Jeanine.

Gilbert heard a commotion downstairs, Rachel Lynde must have arrived. Gilbert wiped his tears away, but wanted to check if his nose or eyes were red before going downstairs. Matthew’s mirror was tiny, though. He remembered Anne talking about her mirror. He also remembered that it was in the farthest room at the end of the hallway. He entered and checked his reflection. No redness.

He was about to leave but realised where he was. This was Anne’s room. He looked around. it was simple, but every available surface was decorated with something. Feathers, seashells, even the skull of a small animal. Gilbert both did and didn’t want to know how it came into her possession. He then saw the desk, where she must do her homework everyday. Where she must have written him his letter. He still has the letter, in a box under his bed right next to the land deed and his birth certificate. It’s where he kept all the important papers he wants to keep forever. He wondered if his own letter was somewhere in this room.

He didn’t wonder long, he was needed downstairs. He took one last quick look around and left. When he got downstairs, Rachel and Diana had arrived. Rachel was talking with Marilla, asking a million questions. Diana was just hugging Anne as she cried into her friend’s arms. Gilbert felt a bit jealous, remembering before Diana arrived when Anne did the same to him, but quickly pushed those thoughts out of his head. He should be happy for Anne to have such a close friend so nearby, it was a smart idea to send for Diana.

Gilbert made himself useful by washing the now-used breakfast dishes as he listened to Marilla and Rachel talk. He too had a lot of questions, and he was happy someone was asking them.

“Who found him?” Rachel asked.

“Anne,” Marilla said, sadly. “She came into his room to wake him up, but found him dead instead. I heard her scream and ran up and that’s when I realised what happened last night.”

“Did her scream wake you?” Rachel asked.

“No, I was already awake. I got up early to start the chores. I peaked in on Matthew, but thought he was just sleeping. I didn’t- I didn't realize.”

Rachel held Marilla’s hand. “Of course you didn’t,” she assured her friend. Gilbert was happy to see her being a friend. Gilbert knew, as all of Avonlea knew, that when it really came down to it Marilla and Rachel were good friends. At least, they thought they did. It had never really been put to the test whether Rachel would put aside her gossip tendencies to help her friend, or if Marilla would let her in instead of shutting her friend out like she would with everyone else. Gilbert was happy to see Rachel trying, and as Marilla held Rachel’s hand back he was also happy to see Marilla trying.

“When I found him, when I realised,” Marilla continued, “I had no idea what to do but I remembered Mrs. Pye bragging that the Carmody doctor was staying with them for the week last Sunday in church. I ran over as fast as possible, though I don’t know why. I felt him. He was already cold. I suppose I was holding out hope that he was still alive. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have gone, shouldn’t have left Anne alone like that.”

“And when did the young Blythe man arrive?” Rachel asked, confused by Gilbert’s presence.

“Right after the doctor, I suppose,” Gilbert said.

“You shouldn’t be doing the dishes,” Rachel said.

“You comfort your friend, I can do this. It isn’t much, but there isn’t any other ways I can think of to help.”

Right then, the minister walked in with the doctor. Marilla went over to talk to them and Gilbert joined her.

All the rest of the day, Gilbert stayed at Green Gables helping however he could. He helped out however he could. He got the old, black, mourning outfits out of storage, remembering the last time they used them. His father’s funeral. Now it was Anne’s turn to bury her father. For the second time in her way too young life. He hated the idea of people taking turns losing people, and even more than that hated the idea of it being Anne’s turn again. He also helped put black cloth over all the mirrors, getting the house ready for mourners. He sat with Anne when Diana had to go home to quickly put on her own mourning outfit. When she returned, Gilbert left to find Marilla. He found her in the office, going over the papers.

“Don’t,” Gilbert advised.

“There are things that need to be taken care of,” Marilla insisted.

“They aren’t going anywhere,” Gilbert pointed out. “Take a day. Mourn. The papers will be just where you left them tomorrow. No one is going to foreclose the house the day your brother died. Banks aren’t that cruel.”

Marilla sighed, but nodded and left the papers as they were. She moved into the kitchen and started making some scones. That Gilbert didn’t object to, he knew sometimes it was relieving to focus on small tasks than think about the great tragedy. He also knew what it felt like when not even a night has passed since your father died and people are already asking you what you plan to do with the farm. He knew too well, and wanted someone to tell him, tell everyone, to take at least a day to yourself before making any decisions.

Everything seemed well in Green Gables, so Gilbert checked out the barn. He heard someone crying in the loft and went up to see who it was.

Jerry tried to wipe his eyes when he saw Gilbert appear.

“I’ve already shed more tears than I care to admit today,” Gilbert said. “There’s no need to be ashamed.”

“It’s just hard to think of him as gone,” Jerry said. “I feel like any moment he could walk in through that door and we’d get back to work.”

“He was a kind employer, wasn’t he?”

“More than that,” Jerry insisted. “He wasn’t like my father, he was like my teacher. I’ve never been to school but I guess that he was what a teacher would be like. He encouraged me, and helped me, and wanted me to be better than who I was.”

That didn’t sound much like Mr. Phillips, but it was spot on for Miss. Stacey.

“You know,” Gilbert said, trying to lighten the mood, “it’s actually kinda funny. The last conversation I had with Matthew, I asked for his blessing for marrying Anne.”

Jerry raised an eyebrow. “Really? It’s that serious? I thought Mrs. Lynde was just exaggerating as usual.”

“It is for me,” Gilbert answered. “Has been for a while. I’ve wanted to ask her for a while, but a week ago something told me I should ask Matthew too. So I prepared a speech and approached him yesterday. But thinking about it, why yesterday? Why did I all of a sudden need to ask him? Why did he die right after? Did… Did I kill him?”

“No,” Jerry assured him. “You didn’t kill him.”

“You’re right,” Gilbert said. He should stop blaming himself.

“Because I killed him,” Jerry said. “He was doing too much work. I should have done more, helped out more. It’s my fault.”

“No,” Gilbert insisted. “It isn’t either our fault. We have to accept that sometimes bad stuff happens.”

Jerry was silent for a moment. “Well, did he give you permission?”

Gilbert smiled. “He did, but he said to wait. He stressed the importance of timing.”

“I’m happy for you,” Jerry said.

“Thank you.”

They took another moment before Gilbert left. He went back home.

“Where have you been, Blythe?” Bash asked as Gilbert. “You’ve been gone all morning.”

“There was some problems at Green Gables,” Gilbert informed them.

“What kind of problem?” Mary asked. She was concerned. Gilbert didn’t look well. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Matthew died,” Gilbert said.

“Matthew Cuthbert?” Bash tried to clarify. Gilbert nodded. Bash sighed. “That must be hard on Marilla and Anne.”

“I was just over there, helping out,” Gilbert explained.

“Of course,” Mary said, “is there anything we can do to help?”

Gilbert was about to say no, but then he caught a glimpse of some potatoes and had an idea. “Actually, if you wouldn’t mind there’s something we can all do together.  
About an hour or two latter, the three returned to Green Gables. They were all in black, and all came to pay their respects and make sure the remaining Cuthbert's were well taken care of. Gilbert was the one carrying their gift.

When they got inside, Mary and Bash went straight for Marilla. Gilbert followed, though as soon as he paid his respects he left to go find Anne. He found her by the kitchen table with Diana and Ruby. It was kind of perfect.

“Mary, Bash and I made you this,” he said, setting the dish down and removing the top to reveal a Shepard’s pie, still warm from the oven. “Bash helped with the meat layer so you know that it’s actually properly seasoned. And I made the top.”

Anne looked at the pie, remembered when Gilbert lost his farther. She couldn’t help a small smile. Then a bigger one. Then before she knew it or could stop it she was laughing so loudly it startled those around her. It had been a long day of crying, to have a reason to laugh felt too good to be true. It all came out at once. Diana and Ruby laughed too, making Anne feel less alone. Soon everyone had joined in. They weren’t sure what they were laughing at, they were just relieved that they were. But Gilbert didn’t focus on them, he was just happy Anne was happy. When they all quieted down, he took a seat with her at the table. They continued talking about what they were talking about before, Heaven.

“I think it’s like a cloud,” Diana said. “There’s no floor, just a cloud so you kind of sink into it a bit but it’s also bouncy and you can jump really high. All the other people in heaven are there and you can talk to them or learn to play the harp, or do whatever you want.”

“I think it would be torture to have to talk to people all day.” Anne said.

“Well my dad told my mum that Heaven was a hotel room in White Sands,” Ruby informed them. “I think it’s like that where you have a room all to yourself, but you can also visit other people’s room. And you can order room service, or whatever you want they could get. Like, if you wanted books,” she said to Anne, “or if you wanted a new dress,” she said to Diana, “they could get it for you, the only thing you have to do is ask.”

Gilbert knew for a fact that that was not what Ruby’s parents were referring to. He lived with a married couple, after all. Anne and Diana also understood, but neither wanted to sully her perfect idea of Heaven so they left it alone.

“What about you?” Anne asked Gilbert. “What is your idea of Heaven?”

Gilbert never really thought about it. “I suppose, I don’t much care what it’s like as long as I get to see everyone I’ve lost.”

“Your father?” Ruby asked.

“And my mother. I’ve never actually meet my mother, but my father described her as having the most beautiful eyes and the sweetest laugh. I really want to see her. And my sister, the one who died when I was 4. And the brother who died when I was 2. And my sister who didn’t even live for an entire day before we lost her.” Gilbert thought for a moment. “I think there are too many people waiting for me.”

“It sometimes seems like death follows you around, doesn’t it,” Anne said, staring into her tea. She wasn’t really talking about him, though

“Yeah, but I don’t have much control over that. The only thing I can do is make sure that happiness and love also follow me around.”

Anne nodded, and looked up. They stared into each other’s eyes, understanding that they both have losses and maybe the other one is only other person in the world who understands them. Gilbert wanted to stay, but he was distracted by seeing Mr. Andrews approach Marilla.

“Now, I know that today must be hard for you,’ Mr. Andrews said, “but I was wondering if you’ve made any decisions as to what to do with the farm.”

Marilla looked flustered, and like she needed help.

“Excuse me,” Gilbert told the young girls and he walked over to Marilla and Mr. Andrews. “I’m sure,” he addressed Mr. Andrews, “however honourable your intentions are, that Marilla does not want to deal with that today.”

“I was only saying that I would give you a hearty sum for the land and you could keep Green Gables as your own,” Mr. Andrews attempted to continue, but Gilbert stoped him.

“What ever you have to say today, you can say tomorrow,” Gilbert said sternly.

Mr. Andrews got the message. “I’m sorry for your loss,” he said, backing off.

“He shouldn't have asked you those questions,” Gilbert insisted.

“It’s fine,” Marilla insisted, but Gilbert could tell by the look on her face that it wasn’t.

“I remember that that was the second hardest part,” Gilbert told her. “All the people asking questions about the farm and the future when you are still trying to deal with the fact that a family member just died.”

“What was the hardest part?” Marilla asked.

“The first night,” Gilbert told her. “Having to fall asleep for the first time since they died. You can’t get your mind to quiet down but you are also so worn out from the day but you know that when you wake you there will be a few seconds where you forget what happened, forget that he’s dead. Part of you wants those seconds, wants to go back to a world where he is still there. Another part hates those seconds, because when you do remember it’s like you are losing him all over again. It’s hard that first night, and that first morning. And the first everything. For the next year, everyone is going to go about their lives as normal, but your life will be filled with “first since he’s gone” thoughts. First Christmas since he’s gone, first easter, first day of school. It’ll be hard.”

“What can you do to make it easier?” Marilla asked.

“Well, my idea was to get on a ship and leave,” Gilbert slightly joked. “Need a ride to Charlottetown?” Marilla smiled softly at that. “Focus on making sure you don’t forget him. Even if the rest of the world does, that doesn’t matter. You will remember him and in a small way you will keep him alive.”

Marilla thought about that. “Thank you,” she said finally. “You’ve been a big help today.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Gilbert insisted.

“About the thing you talked to Matthew about yesterday,” Marilla started, “what did Matthew say?”

“He said yes,” Gilbert said, “but wait. Don’t rush Anne.”

“Smart advice. She is a stubborn girl. Sometimes if you push her too hard in one direction, she’ll run in the opposite direction.”

They looked over to where Anne was still talking with Diana and Ruby. “I should go back,” Gilbert said. “Excuse me.”

He left Marilla and rejoined Anne’s friends. Now they were talking about something to do with the Avonlea Story Club. Gilbert observed and listened to them without really actively participating.

Soon, it was time for dinner. Everyone left to eat with their own family, leaving a few behind to keep company for Anne and Marilla. That's how Diana and Rachel stayed behind. Gilbert, Bash and Mary were the last to leave and on their way out the door when Anne spoke up.

"Please stay," she told Gilbert. "It would be wrong to eat this without you." She gestured to their Shepard's pie.

"May we?" Bash asked Marilla.

"The more the merrier," Marilla said, though you know that these people around her are not the more that she wanted back.

Anne started the stove and Gilbert moved the pie into the kitchen. They were alone. There were a few baskets of scones and the like, but tomorrow almost every woman in the town would stop by with a dish of some sort. It was a thing about social status. You showed that you were kind, but also rich, by giving away to those in need. Gilbert was kind of glad he got their first, though he knew he should be focusing on Anne. He was thinking a lot about himself today.

"I'm sorry," he said to Anne.

"Whatever for?" She wondered, poking the flames.

"After my dad's funeral, I made a big deal and ran off because you were only trying to use your own experience to help me. I'm sorry."

"I believe you've already apologized for that. A lot." She stood up and turned to face him.

"I know," Gilbert said. "I'm sorry about that too."

Anne chuckled softly. Gilbert did too. The most Canadian thing ever is to apologize for apologizing too much. Anne walked over to Gilbert and beside him. They waited in silence as the oven reheated.

"If you ever need anything," Gilbert said eventually, "anything at all, you can come to me."

"I know," Anne said.

"I'm serious," Gilbert said. "Anytime, day or night, I'm always there for -"

"Gil," Anne said, her voice putting extra meaning behind the simple syllable causing Gilbert to stop talking and look over to her. "I know," she said, softly whispering. They were so close, they were right next to each other, staring into each others eyes. Gilbert leaned forward a bit, to hear her better, and Anne matched his movements. Soon they were leaning into each other, their eyes averted so their foreheads touched. Anne closed her eyes and leaned in some more, softly touching her lips to Gilbert's. Gilbert stayed there, too starstruck to do anything, as Anne deepened the kiss, moving her body so that they were facing each other instead of awkwardly standing side by side. She kissed him more, her tongue going and touching his.

This was it, Gilbert knew. Anne liked him back. They were going to go on dates, he would tell everyone she was his girlfriend, they would kiss and be in love and get married. Wait. Marriage.

Matthew.

It was at that moment Gilbert noticed something. Anne was crying. As she kissed him, she was crying. He felt her body shake as she tried to hold back the tears, tasted the weird taste that usually accompanied tears in her mouth.

He broke off the kiss. Once he did, he saw that there were in fact tears running down her face.

"Anne," he said softly, caringly. He pulled her close again, this time in a hug. She continued to cry as he hugged her.

So Anne didn't actually like him. She was just going crazy with grief and that is why they kissed. Nothing more.

They never talked about the kiss. Not after their hug ended and Anne put the pie in the oven to hear it up. Not at the dinner table. Not later that day or the next or ever.

Gilbert, Bash and Mary stayed even after dinner. They didn't want to leave the Cuthbert women alone.

It was late when they started getting ready to go. Gilbert was just trying to find Anne to say good bye and found her at the bottom of the stairs, staring at them, unable to move.

"What's wrong?" Gilbert asked.

"I don't want to go back up," Anne said. "I haven't been back up since... Since I found him. I don't know how I can go back up and I certainly don't know how I can fall asleep."

Matthews body had been removed from the house, but his memory and presence had gone no where.

"Maybe you don't have to," Gilbert suggested, remembering how hard that first night was for him.

"What do you mean?" Anne asked.

"Come with me," Gilbert said. She followed him as he lead her back to where Marilla, Bash and Mary were saying goodbye. "Is it ok if Anne sleeps at my house tonight?" Gilbert asked. "And by that I mean," Gilbert quickly corrected himself after it looked like Marilla would kill him, "that the first night is really hard so I was proposing she come with us. She would sleep with Mary, of course, Bash could take my bed and I would sleep on the couch."

"Well, if that's ok with Mary," Marilla started.

"It's more than ok," Mary said.

"And if it's what Anne wants," Marilla continued.

"Please don't make me go back upstairs," Anne pleaded.

"Then I suppose there's nothing wrong, though you could have phrased it better at the start," Marilla gave Gilbert a stern look, but let Anne leave with them.

When they got home, Gilbert set about making the couch so he could sleep on it. Anne and Mary went to bed, but Bash stayed up so he could talk to Gilbert.

"Pity there wasn't only one bed for the two of you to share," Bash said with a wink.

"If I had proposed that palm, I'm sure Marilla would have still let her come," Gilbert said sarcastically.

"Worth a shot," Bash suggested.

"Not worth getting shot down," Gilbert corrected.

"I'm sure you are happy just sleeping under the same roof," Bash said.

"It doesn't matter if I'm happy. This is all Anne is willing to give me so I have to make it work." He thought about the kiss.

"Suit yourself. Goodnight."

Gilbert got into his makeshift bed but couldn't stop thinking about the kiss. Anne didn't see him as Gilbert than, just as the nearest pair of lips. She would have kissed anyone. Well, maybe not anyone. She wouldn't have kissed Billy, for example. So she saw him as the closest pair of lips that wouldn't mind being kissed. So she knew he wanted to kiss her.

Gilbert stayed up late thinking it over. He never asked her about it, but he thought about it constantly.

-

Gilbert was in his second year at Redmond, a calm, collected, and confident young man strolling up to Anne’s house to ask her (finally) a ver special question. He had flowers in his hand. Lillies, Anne’s favourite.

When he arrived at Anne’s door, he knocked twice. Phil answered.

“I don’t suppose those could possibly be for me?” Phil asked.

“No,” Gilbert told her, “they are for a certain redhead who has captured my heart and has recently confessed to my dear friend Edward in confidence that I have her’s as well.”

“Lucky thing, Edward being so loose-lipped,” Phil agreed. “Though most people wouldn’t see him as that reliable. I’ll get Anne.”

Gilbert had waited, on Matthew’s dying orders, for Anne too look at him like he was the world. It had been three years and he had nothing to show for it. Finally, he had gotten wind through his friend that even if she didn’t show it, she was ready. So he put on a suit and went over. He wanted to wear the same suit that he was wearing when he asked Matthew’s permission, and at Matthew’s funeral, but that one was too small for him. This one was his best so he wore it, even if it wasn’t a part of their great story up to this point.

He smiled as he saw Anne. Her hair was still as red as the day they meet, and though her freckles had mostly gone 7 still stuck around to Anne’s fury and Gilbert’s pleasure.

“These are for you,” he said, giving her the flowers.

“Oh, thank you,” she said, returning the smile, though later he would realize that it was somewhat forced.

“Shall we go for a walk?” Gilbert asked.

“Let me put these in some water first,” Anne said, retreating in side only to return a moment later. “Let’s go.”

They walked down to a park. There was a small babbling brook, a rope swing hanging from a tree, and a gazebo. They went to the gazebo. It seemed like the best place to do this, Gilbert thought. Anne stared out the side of the gazebo, looking at the river. Gilbert joined her.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it,” he said.

“I’ve always had an appreciation for water features, yes,” Anne replied.

“I wasn’t talking about the river,” Gilbert said, looking into Anne’s eyes with as much meaning as he could muster.

Anne stared back, decidedly unromantic. “Did you just call me an ‘it’?” she asked.

“Umm,” Gilbert didn’t know how to respond to that. “Not intentionally,” he said after a while. Anne wasn’t convinced, and turned back to the river. “As you know, I care for you. Deeply.” Despite the rocky start, he had a speech prepared that he had to get through. "The issue arrives when I do not believe you know just how deeply my feeling really go. I worship you, Anne. My days are good or bad purely depending on whether I see your beautiful, shining face."

"Gilbert, no," Anne whispered softly.

"I want to be with you forever and beyond," Gilbert continued, not hearing her. "And I know, deep down, you want to be with me too."

"Gilbert, no," Anne said again, a bit louder this time.

"Even if you don't realize it right now, you do," Gilbert tries to proceed, ignoring Anne's objection.

"Gilbert, no," she said, louder, forcing Gilbert to acknowledge her.

"Anne, you didn't let me finish," he turned to face her, then saw her face. "Oh," was all he could say.

"Gilbert, no." She was firm and final. She wasn't interrupting him, she was giving him her answer.

"So that's it?" Gilbert said. "You know your answer even before I'm finished?"

"I knew it before you began. There are no words you could say to convince me to feel something I do not."

"You don't want me? At all?"

"I want you as a friend," Anne tried.

"Don't you know by now that your friendship could never satisfy me!" Gilbert yelled. He was angry.

"Gilbert, please," Anne tried to calm him.

"No. You're right. You've never loved me and looking back I suppose I never loved you either. I only wanted to make myself feel special for loving the ugly girl." He left the gazebo, and could hear And crying begins him but he didn't go back.

Later he wrote a letter to Bash. It was short, just 6 words long. "Proposed to Anne. No marriage imminent." He stayed at Redmond that winter holiday, and the summer too. He avoided Avonlea like the place, for he knew that that's where Anne would be during the holidays when they didn't have class. It was over a year till he was actually able to see Bash again, when he came home for Bash and Mary's daughter's christening. She was named after Bash's mother, and Gilbert was her godfather. Anne was the godmother. Over the years she had developed a smooth and constant friendship with both Mary and Bash, despite her and Gilbert's rocky relationship.

Gilbert sat at the kitchen table for then first time in a long time and thought about how crazy he was to stop coming home. He liked it here, and even if he hated Anne she shouldn't stop him from enjoying what he liked. Bash and Mary were going over the plans for the following day.

"Now, at the christening you and Anne will stand next to each other," Mary said. "Are you sure you can handle that?"

"Oh, I can handle it," Gilbert said confidently. "Can Anne?"

"We already talked to Anne," Bash said. He was pacing back and forth through the kitchen, bouncing his young child on his hip. "She said she's ok. Are you sure you can stand being next to the ugly girl?"

Gilbert's head shot up. "Anne isn't ugly."

"Well, that's how you described her after she wouldn't marry you," Bash countered.

Gilbert went silent. "Who told you?" he asked after a while.

"Anne," Mary said, matter-of-factly. "She also said that you said that her friendship would never satisfy you." Mary's eyes bore into Gilbert's head as he tried to not meet her gaze. Mary had this way of you making you know you did something bad.

"I did say some horrible things," Gilbert confessed.

"That's putting it lightly," Bash said.

"Hopefully you can use this as a chance to make things right," Mary said.

"For sure," Gilbert agreed. Then a thought occurred to him. “Wait, did you make Anne the godmother just to force us to talk?”

“Of course not,” Mary assured him. “We made _you_ the godfather to force you two to talk.”

Gilbert was slightly offended. “Well, who else was it going to be?” he asked.

“My son,” Mary suggested.

“True,” Gilbert said, realizing that maybe he wasn’t their first choice after all.

“Not entirely,” Bash said. “We didn’t just make you godfather for the matchmaking opportunities. We also miss you, you know.”

“I’m sorry I’ve stayed away for so long,” Gilbert said.

“Don’t apologize,” Mary insisted, “just don't let it happen again.”

“I won’t,” he promised. “Now, I want to hold my goddaughter-to-be.” He got up and took the baby from Bash. He bounded the little girl up and down on her hip, causing her to laugh. He made faces and she laughed some more.

The next day, he carried her up to the church. Anne was waiting there, with Diana, Marilla and Matthew. Bash and Mary had to go quickly talk with the priest, leaving Gilbert alone with the baby. This attracted the attention of the two young ladies. Anne and Diana walked over and started fawning over the young girl. She hid at first, but slowly opened up to them, especially when Anne started playing peekaboo.

“She really likes your hair,” Anne noted as she observed the baby playing with his curls.

“I think she’s the only one,” Gilbert said.

“Nonsense,” Anne said. “They suit you.” She smiled softly at him, and he smiled back at her. Before they could say anything else, however, it was time to go inside.

They stood side by side on the altar, both pledging a lifelong commitment to the child before them. Once it was done, and everyone was heading home, Gilbert asked Anne if he could walk her home. She accepted.

As they walked down to Green Gables they couldn’t think of anything to say. It had been so long since they had been alone together. Before, they had a rhythm, conversation came easily. They knew what the other was thinking so even if they didn’t speak their silences communicated much.

“How is Roy?” Gilbert asked after a while.

“Roy is well,” Anne said. “He talked about wanting to come home with me this holiday, to meet all of you. He sees his own family a lot, and he is interested in meeting mine. I told him not to, that he would just be left out by my friend group and it would cost a lot and it’s only a short while that I’ll be gone and we could exchange letters. And his letters are so sweet. They really are. In his most recent one, he actually composed a sonnet for me.”

“Really?” Gilbert was surprised. “I thought sonnets were only for Shakespeare and King Arthur.”

“So did I,” Anne said,, thoughtfully looking up at the trees.

“You really like him,” Gilbert noted.

“I suppose I do,” Anne said.

“I never got the whole story, how did you two meet?”

Anne grew uncomfortable all of a sudden. “Well, he found me one day. Crying. In a gazebo. He offered me his handkerchief, offered a walk home, and kept on making jokes until I laughed. He made me happy again, comparatively speaking at least.”

“Why were you crying?” Gilbert asked. Anne looked at him and he knew exactly why. “Oh. Sorry about that, by the way. I just want you to know that what I said, it was in anger. I didn't mean any of it.”

“Don’t worry,” Anne said. “I get that you don’t mean it. It just… It’s never nice to hear the worst things you think about yourself being spoken by someone you put so much faith and trust into.”

“Well, I know that nothing can make up for what I’ve done but I will continue to focus on becoming someone you can trust again going forward.”

“I’d appreciate that,” Anne smiled at him softly.

They caught up on what’s happened the past few years in their life, Anne filling him in on the details of Roy and Gilbert talking about his own friends. Soon, they had arrived at Green Gables. Gilbert didn’t want the walk to end, but knew better than to insist on something Anne wasn’t willing to offer.

“It was nice talking to you,” he said.

“Nice talking to you too,” Anne agreed. Gilbert turned to leave, but Anne had one last thing to say. “Gil!” she shouted, causing him to turn back around. “When we get back to Redmond, please don’t be a stranger anymore.” Gilbert smiled, and nodded, and continued on his walk home.

When he got home, Bash and Mary were waiting for him.

“Tell. Us. Everything.” Bash urged.

“It was a nice day out,” Gilbert said. “It wasn’t hot. It was a little chilly but just enough to make you put on a cute sweater.”

“How was Anne,” Mar specified.

Gilbert sighed. “Anne is good. Healthy. Happy. Happy with Roy. We are just friends.” Gilbert went back up to his room leaving a very disappointed Bash.

“I want them to get married already,” he told his wife.

“So does half the town,” his wife reminded him.

“Now, they are going to die without so much as a kiss.”

“Oh, they’ve kissed,” Mary said.

“What!” Bash had never heard about this. “When? Also, how did you learn about it before me?”

“It was the day Matthew died,” Mary informed him. “Anne told me about it but swore me to secrecy. And it wasn’t really a kiss, not in the way you are talking about.”

Now Bash was just confused. “What?”

“So, according to Anne, the two were in the kitchen. Alone. They were side by side, really close. They lean in and kiss. And it starts out light and soft but soon turns more passionate. But then, the emotion of that day, seeing her father dead and all, caused Anne to start crying. So she’s crying and Gilbert breaks off the kiss and gives her a hug instead.”

“Well, he’s a gentleman,” Bash said.

“Except Anne interpreted that as he’s not interested in her, you know, physically.”

“That’s crazy,” Bash said.

“I’m not saying it’s true, I’m just saying that’s what she thought.”

“Well, have they talked about it?”

“No. They just sort of… Moved on.”

The next day, Bash had more questions for Gilbert.

“This proposal of yours,” Bash started, “How did it go?”

“Well, I heard from Edward that Anne had told him she was in love with me. So I put on a suit, got some flowers and went over. We went on a walk, and when we arrived at the gazebo I had a speech prepared.”

“Did you follow Matthew’s advice?” Bash asked. “Did you wait till she looked at you like you were the entire world?”

“What?” Gilbert had almost forgotten about that. “No. I had waited long enough. I gave her my speech and she said no, so I got mad and insulted her and walked away.”

“What did the speech say?” Bash asked.

“ I don’t really remember,” Gilbert lied. “It might be something like: as you know, I care for you. Deeply. The issue arrives when I do not believe you know just how deeply my feeling really go. I worship you. My days are good or bad purely depending on whether I see your beautiful, shining face.”  
“Gilbert, no,” Bash sighed.

“That’s exactly what Anne said!” Gilbert said, surprised and also sort of confused.

“That’s the proposal any man could give to any women,” Bash said. “This is you and Anne. You guys run deep. There’s a long history of love and friendship there, and you just discounted all of it.”

Gilbert looked down, ashamed. “Damn,” he cursed.

“Maybe the reason Anne rejected you was because your proposal wasn’t right and because you didn’t listen to Matthew.”

“Matthew was right. I should have waited. Now I blew the entire thing. Anne’s never going to want to marry me now.”

“Well, do you really still want to marry her?” Bash asked himself, then he saw the sheepish look on Gilbert’s face. “Still!?”

“I think,” Gilbert started, hesitating at first. “I think it’s less of ‘still’ and more of a ‘always’. I think, I think Anne might be the only girl I ever love. And I think that fact is going to break me.”

Bash looked over at the young boy in front of him. “I think maybe it will too,” Bash confessed.

Another few years passed. All that Redmond could talk about was the fact that Anne and Roy were basically already married. Every event he went to, be it tea, party, or even lecture sometimes, it was always mentioned. You talked about the weather, talked about class, then talked about Anne and Roy. Gilbert wasn’t sure if it was just because it was him or if it truly was everyone talking about it, but he was positively sick to his stomach. He threw himself into studying for exams, not wanting to think about anything else. Especially not wanting to think about a certain redhead in a beautiful white dress, walking down the aisle as music played to meet a man that is not him.

When he started to get sick, he didn’t notice at first. He insisted it was just exam-season nerves and pushed though. Once exams were done, he went to the doctor. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, and told to stay in the city for treatment. Gilbert stayed, for about half a week. Being in that hospital bed, alone with his thoughts, his thoughts turned to Anne, as they usually do, and specifically Anne and Roy. Gilbert knew he couldn’t stay in a city where every morning he opened the morning paper with dread, worried there might be the worst engagement announcement in the world buried within it’s pages. He left on the first train to the maritimes he could find.

Traveling only made him sicker, he would soon find, because when he got to Charlottetown he visited the doctor again but instead of being told that he was likely to recover if he treated himself properly, now he was told that recovery was unlikely.

“Some, more flamboyant colleagues of mine, might even call it impossible,” the doctor told him.

“And you?” Gilbert said through coughs.

“I know how strong you can be,” the doctor says. “In situations like this, it often comes down to the patient and how strong they are. I know you can push through this, it’s more about finding a reason that a cure.”

Gilbert took the next train back to bright river. Bash was waiting for him there. Gilbert smiled when he saw his old friend, but wouldn’t let Bash hug him.

“You don’t want to get sick,” Gilbert said.

“For you? I’ll risk it,” he hugged Gilbert close, and Gilbert felt happy to be loved. He couldn’t remember the last time he was hugged by someone who loved him. “Now, let’s get you home,” Bash insisted. They road through Avonlea, and Gilbert was so sick, plus he had forgotten to eat on the train, the colours were blurring together and making new ones and the entire experiment was very magical and tripy. They stopped somewhere, and Gilbert could hear people talking and knew he should recognize their voices but couldn’t.

“Is that Gilbert Blythe?” an older woman asked.

“Is he alright?” a younger voice wondered, very worried.

“He’s a bit sick,” Bash said, not wanting to worry the girls.

“I have to see him,” the younger girl said, rushing over to Gilbert side of the carriage.

Gilbert saw her appear in slow motion, his sick brain playing tricks on him with the lights and colours. He saw her lean over him, concern written all over her face. The light shone through the trees, making her hair appear like a glowing, flaming halo.

“Angle,” he said, reaching up to touch her face. “I truly have died.”

“Best get you home, Blythe,” Bash said, and with a flick of his wrists the horses were moving again. Gilbert turned to see his angle being left behind, and Green Gables haded in the distance as well.

When Gilbert got home he was feed a hearty meal, his first that day. He went over the events since getting off the train.

“On our way home, did we,” Gilbert didn’t know how to phrase it.

“Take a shortcut that took us close to Green Gables?” Bash finished Gilbert’s sentence for him.

“Yes, and were we stoped-”

“By Anne and Marilla?”  
“Yeah, and did I?”

“Call Anne and angle and then felt up her face before telling her you were dead?”

“Yeah, did I do all that or was I just hallucinating?”

“Unfortunately, you are sick enough to hallucinate just yet.”

“Damn,” Gilbert swore.

“Not around the baby,” Mary insisted.

“Sorry,” Gilbert apologized. “I mean, um, darn.”

Gilbert tried to help out around the house, but he was too sick to do anything. He was told to stay in his room and focus on getting better. With little to do, he wrote letters.

He wrote to Phil, asking her why Anne was back home at Green Gables. Shouldn’t she be with her betrothed? Phil wrote back, telling him that Roy asked but Anne refused. She claims she doesn’t know why, but Phil told him that it was because he was still in love with her and to try again. Gilbert responded saying that he tried proposing because someone else told him it was time once before and it didn’t work out. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake over again.

Soon after, they got a visit from Jerry. He asked to see Gilbert.

“What do you think your doing?” Jerry asked him with an accusatory voice.

“What do, *cough cough* What do you mean?” Gilbert asked. Speaking was getting hard but he tried his best.

“Phil told Diana what you said,” Jerry informed him. “How can you do that to Anne? She is at home right now, bawling her eyes out every night, unable to do anything because her thought are so preoccupied with you.”

“I don’t believe you,” Gilbert said.

“And why not,” Jerry said.

“Because the last time I believed someone when they told me Anne loved me I had my heart broken. I’m not going to put Anne through that again. She belongs with Roy.”

“She isn’t with Roy,” Jerry said. “She broke it off with him.”

“Now I really don’t believe you. Roy is perfect for Anne.”

“Only on paper,” Jerry specified. “He’s a perfect gentleman, a great romantic, the kind of person from one of Anne’s books but the kids of person who belongs in a book. He has no real personality, they have nothing to talk about. They aren’t compatible, and that’s what matters, not who can write the best sonnet. Please, Gilbert. Don’t throw your life away by not marrying Anne.”

“What even is my life? By the most generous estimates only a couple weeks.” Gilbert looked darkly out the window.

“Then don’t throw away Anne’s,” Jerry said finally. He turned and left.

Bash came up after Jerry. “I thought we had gotten over the thing where you refuse to admit you have feelings for the girl.”

“Oh, I have feelings for her alright,” Gilbert readily admitted.

“Then act on them,” Bash insisted.

“I can’t disobey Matthew again,” Gilbert insisted. “He said to until I was her entire world and I didn’t. I won’t make that mistake again.”

Bash had seen Anne at church yesterday. He saw it in her eyes. But Gilbert was more cautious this time, having already rushed once. Bash knew there was nothing he could say to convince Gilbert, so he left.

Downstairs, Mary was making scones. “We should send a few of these up to Gilbert,” Bash suggested.

“No, not these,” Mary said firmly.

“Why not?” Bash asked.

“Because Anne is coming over later with scones of her own,” Mary announced firmly. She laughed when she saw her husband’s shocked face. “You boys may be content to sit around, waiting for things to happen on their own. I’m not. I suggested to Anne yesterday at church that if she brought over some scones they would be greatly appreciated. She should arrive any minute now.”

She didn’t actually arrive for a few hours. “I brought over scones,” she said.

“I thought you would come over a few hours ago,” Mary said.

“I wanted to come earlier,” Anne confessed, “but I kept messing up the baking. First, I forgot to add the flour. On the second time around I left them in the oven to long and they were black when they came out. On my third attempt I thought i had gotten it just right but then I bit into it and realised I had swapped the sugar for salt. This attempt turned out OK, though I'm a little embarrassed I made so many mistakes along the way. I thought I had gotten over it, but I’ve been really distracted these last few weeks for some reason.” Mary and Bash shot each other a knowing look. “One thing, please don’t tell Gilbert how many tries it took. I don’t want him thinking I’m some sort of slightly, klutzy, little girl. I am a woman, capable of cooking and baking for herself, and whoever else came along too I suppose. Where _is_ Gilbert?” Anne asked.

“Up in his room,” Mary said. “It’s upstairs, the second on the-”

“I knew which one it is,” Anne said as she went up the stairs, bringing her scones with her.

Gilbert lay in his bed, staring out the window. It was probably going to be the last thing he saw. Not that he cared much to see anything beyond it. He heard a knock at the door and his attention turned away. “Mary?” he wondered.

“No,” a girl said. She pushed the door open and Gilbert saw that it was Anne. What little breath he had she took away.

“Anne,” he said, trying his best to sit up, but that only made him have a coughing fit. Anne rushed over to his side. “No,” Gilbert insisted. He didn’t want Anne to see him like this.

“Gil,” she said softly, worriedly. He looked up and there was a tear steaming down her cheek. She was crying. Over him.

“I’m fine,” Gilbert insisted.

“No you are not,” Anne said. She went to sit on the edge of his bed. Noticing the basin with cold water and a cloth, she started to pad his forehead with it, clearing of all the sweat from the fever. Gilbert sighed in relief as she did that, grateful. “They said that you were in bad shape. I thought they were exaggerating but now I’m not so sure.”

“What’s in the basket?” Gilbert asked, wanting to move away from the subject of his health.

“Scones,” Anne said. “I brought them over for you. To help you get better.” Anne pealed back the cloth that was covering them to reveal a collection of scones. Gilbert took one to try. It was delicious. “Gilbert?” Anne asked, softly. “They- They said that you were going to- to die. Is that- Please tell me that isn’t true.”

Gilbert looked over at the girl. Tears were in her eyes and heartbreak was painted across her face. She looked like her entire world was about to end. Because it was. Because he was. Because right then, right there, he was her entire world and she couldn't stand the idea of losing him. She was in pain, and Gilbert never wanted to see her in pain like that ever again.

“I’m doing everything I can to make sure it isn’t,” he promised her.

She nodded, then left.

Gilbert made good on his promise, and his health quickly improved.

“So, are you going to ask Anne to marry you again?” Bash asked one morning.

“No,” Gilbert replied.

Bash threw his hands up in frustration. “You come back from the brink of death just for her and you still won’t ask her. You said it yourself, she looked at you like you were the entire world. That’s what Matthew said to wait for so go already.”

“She only looked at me like that because I was dying,” Gilbert insisted. “People are always more generous in their eulogies than they are when people are alive. That’s just what happened. Preemptively.”

“I’m telling you it isn’t,” Bash tried to insist, but Mary stopped him.

“Tell you what,” she suggested, “why don’t you go back to Green Gables. Ask Anne to join you on a walk. See if the spark is still there.”

Gilbert thought. “That seems like a nice idea. If she does all that better, but if she doesn't it could just be a walk between two old friends.”

“Exactly,” Mary said. She shot a look over to her husband saying ‘that’s how it’s done.’

Later that afternoon, Anne sat on the Green Gables porch as Gilbert approached. “It’s a beautiful day,” he told her. “I was about to take a walk over by the Lake of Shining Waters. Care to join me?”

Anne smiled at him. “I’d love to.” She walked beside him as they proceeded down the lane, leaving Green Gables. “Your health has greatly improved,” she noted.

“Well, I always keep my promises,” he said back. “I haven’t well and truly caught up on all the Avonlea gossip since I got back, I was mostly locked in my room. What’s been going on?”

“Well, Cole is living with a fellow artist is Charlottetown. His name is Gabriel. He’s french, from one of the riches families in Paris but came here to escape, um, the pressures his family put on him. They are happy together.” Anne still didn’t 100% know if he could trust Gilbert with the particular secret, and knew that the consequences of telling the wrong person were too great to risk it. She hadn’t even told Matthew and Marilla the depth of Cole’s relation with Gabriel. “Diana and Jerry are courting. In secret, of course.”

“Wait, there together?” Gilbert was surprised by that. “I suppose that explains how Jerry knew about Phil’s letter to Diana.”

“What letter?” Anne asked.

“Uh, not important. Continue, please.

“Well, Ruby currently has twenty suitors, easy. Though none quite catch her eye. She’s still waiting. Tillie is engaged to Charlie, though it’s whispered that she isn’t as enthusiastic about the match as he is. Jane is set to marry some rich millionaire from British Colombia.”

“Why are you focusing so much on the marriages?” Gilbert asked.

Anne looked up at him shyly. “I guess I just, um, love love.”

“You are a romantic at heart. If anyone should get a match who wrote them sonnets, it’s you. Sorry about Roy, though.”

“Why would you be? I’m not. I’m more sorry for Roy. He told me I broke his heart in a way he’ll never recover.”

“Oh,” Gilbert could sympathize with the sentiment, but he knew Roy shouldn’t have said it.

“Don’t worry. His sister told me he’s said that to at least half a dozen other girls and he’s recovered each time. He’ll be fine.”

“Oh.” Gilbert was happy Roy was alright, though he couldn’t understand feeling the way he felt with Anne for six other girls. It was clear Roy was less attracted to them and more attracted to the romantic possibility they brought.

 

They had arrived at the lake. Anne took a seat looking out over the calm water and Gilbert sat next to her. He studied her face carefully. So far he had been getting very freind-signals. She looked at him with a smile, but one she could have also given Diana or Cole. He hadn’t seen the love he saw in her face when he had been sick. Maybe it was gone. Or worst, maybe he had just hallucinate it entirely.

Then she turned to face him, saw the way he was looking at her, and her face melted at the sight. She couldn’t remain composed when those eyes were looking at her like that.

He saw it. He saw the way her eyes lost their glazed-over tendency, the way they always seemed to be thinking about something else when they were looking at you. He saw him become the only thing they focused on. He was, in that moment, her entire world.

His palms grew sweaty. He hadn’t practiced a proposal. Why hadn’t he practiced? That was a stupid move. Still, he had rushed and delayed too much, he couldn’t push it another day, hour, or minute.

“Anne,” he started. “You deserve to have someone who would write sonnets about you. I have no expertise, or even experience, with flowery prose like that. If you choose me, and I do hope you do, you would get no sonnets, odes, or even limerick. You deserve someone who will make you want for nothing. I come from a family of poor farmers, am currently a poor student, and even though I have plans to be a doctor it won’t be for another 3, maybe 4 years and even then there are no guarantees. You won’t get rich if you marry me. But what you will get is a loving and devoted husband who has had the biggest crush on you since you hit me with your slate. I can’t offer you much, but I am offering you all I have and am because without you I am nothing. Please, say you’ll marry me.” Gilbert finished his speech, and Anne smiled at him, though she didn’t say anything. Gilbert braised himself for an answer, but none came. “Umm. Anne?”

“Shh,” she said.

“Did you just shush me after I proposed?” Gilbert asked, confused.

“Shhhhh,” Anne repeated. “I want to remember this moment.”

Well, that’s kinda sweet, Gilbert though.

“I mean, we’re going to be telling our kids about It, aren’t we.”

True, Gilbert thought, nonchalantly. Wait. His face dropped as he went over just what she said. Kids. Their kids. His eyes light up as he realised just what Anne meant with that line. He leaned over and kissed her. She kissed him back, running her hands through his hair.

“Wait,” Gilbert said, gasping for air. “I actually need you to say it.”

“Say what?” Anne asked.

“Say that you’ll marry me,” Gilbert specified. “I know it’s stupid but I actually need you to say the words.”

Anne smiled softly. “I will marry you, Gilbert Blythe. For richer. For poorer. In sickness and in health.” Anne kissed him again, pulling him closer and wrapping her arms around his neck.

Later that night, Gilbert walked home alone. As he entered the house, Bash was playing with his daughter as Mary sewed.

“Where have you been, Blythe?” Bash asked.

“No,” Gilbert said.

“No? You haven’t been anywhere?” Bash was confused.

“No, it’s not Gilbert Blythe. Not anymore, at least. Call me…” Gilbert was enjoying dragging out his answer, “Gilbert Shirley-Cuthbert.”

“You asked her?” Mary said, rising as she put her sewing aside.

“Yes.” Gilbert confirmed.

“And she said yes?” Bash clarified, picking up his daughter and bringing her over to Mary and Gilbert.

“Yes!” Gilbert was over the moon.

Bash and Mary were so excited for him. The four of them jumped up and down i excitement at the idea of the impending nuptials, though the baby admittedly didn’t really know what was happening.

-

“May I have your attention?” Gilbert asked the crowd, knocking his fork against his champagne glass as was tradition. “ Thank you,” he said as they quotes down. “And thank you all for coming to attend see the most beautiful woman in the world wed the luckiest man in the world.” He gestured with his glass to where Anne sat beside him, a picture in her white dress. “I see many faces, looking around the room, but there is unfortunately one person who is missing. He was taken from us too soon. Matthew Cuthbert.” A sadness fell around the room. “Matthew showed us all that fatherhood is not defined by blood, and was the best father Anne could ask for. I am honoured to now be able to include him on my family tree.” Gilbert set down his glass, taking a small pause. “Now, as many of you know I have had the biggest crush on Anne since forever. Some on you incorrectly attribute it’s beginning to me returning to Avonlea. Bash can attest to the fact that it started way before that. I believe it started the moment I found her in the woods, the very moment I met her. The point is, I knew long time ago that I wanted to marry Anne. So, on what would later turn out to be the day before he died, I asked Matthew for his blessing. He gave It, but he also gave me a peice of advice. Don’t rush. Take your time. I made sure to follow this when I proposed, the second time at least,” Gilbert joked. “That’s how I know he is here. Because neither of us have forgotten about him or the lessons he taught us. So even if he can’t be here in body, he is here in spirit. And smiling at the thought of you so beautiful and happy and in love. To Matthew.” Gilbert raised his glass again.

“To Matthew,” the room chorused.

“To Matthew,” Anne said softly to Gilbert as he took him seat again. She took a drink, then kissed him.

Now it was Bash’s turn to talk. He got up to make his best-man speech. “As all of you know, I’ve known Blythe for a long time. I suppose I should stop calling him that since there are 2 of them now.”


End file.
